


What is it Good For?

by Chimaera-Writes (ChimaeraKitten)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: But also not, Episode: s03e18-21 Sozin's Comet, Gen, Missing Scene, No editing we die like mne, kind of a
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 11:05:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17021502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChimaeraKitten/pseuds/Chimaera-Writes
Summary: Of all of them, Zuko might have the most understanding of what they're really asking Aang to do when he faces Ozai.(kind of an exploration about how Aang's lingering guilt about the North Pole informed his thoughts on Ozai. Also an exploration of my thoughts on Zuko, namely that he was in command of a navy ship in a time of war, and even if they were just fruitlessly hunting for the avatar they had to have gotten involved in some fights)





	What is it Good For?

**Author's Note:**

> this doesn’t technically fit in canon because of the timeline of the episode (Aang just runs off to mediate and then vanishes) but like. I wanted it. so here it is.

Zuko finds Aang on the roof, looking out to sea. The boy—and he really is a just a boy, the events of today remind everyone of that—sits hunched over, with his knees drawn into his chest and his face hidden. Momo chitters and tugs on the loose drapes of Aang’s clothes, but he doesn’t respond.

Zuko sits down beside him silently, letting Aang have the first word.

“Zuko, have you ever killed anyone?”

Zuko hesitates. “Yes.”

Aang shoots him a look. He’s startled, Zuko can tell, but not truly surprised. “How?” He asks, “why?”

Zuko is just glad he didn’t ask who.

“I was in command of a fire navy ship for two years. People went to their deaths on my orders, people _killed_ on my orders.”

“But you’ve never killed anyone with your firebending.”

It’s not really a question, but Zuko answers anyway. “No. And not with my swords, either.”

Zuko is glad he didn’t let Katara chase after Aang. She doesn’t exactly have experience with this sort of conundrum.

Aang turns back to his knees as if that was the answer to all his questions.

“I don’t think there’s much of a difference,” Zuko says as gently as he can manage. He’s not good at this. “It’s my responsibility. Not taking responsibility for...things like that is part of why the Fire Nation has gone so wrong in the last hundred years.” He realizes his hand is creeping up towards his scar and buries it in his hair instead.

“I think I killed Zhao,” Aang mumbles, “at the North Pole. I had a dream about it.”

This, Zuko can offer genuine comfort. “You didn’t.” How to put this delicately. “He killed himself. He would’ve lived if he’d just been less stubborn.”

Aang looks up, eyes wide. “You were there?”

Zuko nods. “I tried to save him, but he wouldn’t take my hand.” He yanks his hand through his hair, dislodging tangles and a leaf that must’ve gotten there on his climb up here. He never liked Zhao, but it still hurts, being so _disgusting_ to a person that they would choose death over taking his help.

Aang is looking at him with sympathy now, and this is _not_ how this was supposed to go. He needs to get back to the point. “People die in war.” He thinks about the casualty lists he’s seen since coming back to the Fire Nation. “A lot of other people died in the North, too.”

Aang flinches _hard_ , and oh, that was the wrong thing to say.

“Aang—“

“I KNOW, I _KNOW_ , OKAY! THIS WHOLE WAR IS MY FAULT AND NOW I’M SUPPOSED TO END IT BUT I CAN’T JUST KILL SOMEONE IN COLD BLOOD!”

Zuko tastes sparks. “It’s one death to prevent _thousands_. Nothing else will work, can’t you just _see_ —“

“THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER WAY!”

“THERE’S NOT! NOTHING ELSE IS PERMANENT! DO YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST LOCK HIM UP? HE HAS SUPPORTERS—“

“I DON’T _CARE_!”

The declaration echoes across the slope of the roof and Aang stills, chest heaving. “I’m not going to do it.”

“Aang,” Zuko tries, hearing Uncle’s voice in his head urging _patience_ , “nobody wants to force you to do something you don’t want, but it _has to be you._ Nobody else can end this. I—I’ve thought about this a lot. I had an opportunity on the day of black sun, but it’s not my destiny, it’s yours.”

“You’re scared of him and you want me to get rid of him for you,” Aang says, emotionless.

That _cuts_. Zuko has never seen Aang like this before. “That’s not what I—“ he cuts himself off because the old rage is stirring inside him and the last word would’ve been punctuated by a puff of fire and that would not help at all. He grits his teeth. “This isn’t about me,” he forces out, “and it’s not about you either—“

“Of course it is,” Aang snaps, standing in one fluid motion, “if it wasn’t, nobody would be asking me to _murder_ somebody!”

“Aang!” But the boy is already gone, dropping over the edge of the roof and out of sight.

Zuko almost breaks a finger punching the roof tiles. He never thought _this_ would be the hard part. He’s not sure if it’s anger or fear or sadness or all three that cause the tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. He scrubs them off with his shirt sleeve, feeling the rasp of the fabric against the rough scar. He doesn’t know why he thought it was a good idea to come up here.

He’ll just have to hope Aang cools off by morning.

 

* * *

 

It’s only after—after Ozai is in prison and Zuko has the ancient crown messily pinned to his hair and Aang is back and he _took Ozai’s bending away_ —that they talk about it.

“I’m sorry.” Aang says out of the blue, between two new batches of scrolls to read. The old ones scatter across the desk between them, lists and figures telling them all the things they need to do to truly bring this war to an end. “About what I said. I didn’t mean that.”

“I’m sorry too,” Zuko says, “And I don’t know that you were entirely wrong.” It costs him a little, to say that.

“I was,” Aang insists, “you’ve proven yourself plenty brave, and I shouldn’t have said it.”

Zuko lets out a puff of breath. No sparks. “I’m glad you found another way.” It’s only after he says it that he realizes it’s true—for Aang’s sake, if not for his father’s.

Aang grins and lunges across the desk to pull Zuko into a slightly inconvenient hug.

“Me too.”


End file.
